Essential questions
0 How is the genre of the graphic novel
different from the contemporary
novel?
0 Why would an author choose this
genre over the contemporary novel?
0 How does the language differ in both
genres?
0 How does the concept of stereotypes
shape our reading of American Born
Chinese?
What is a graphic novel?
0 A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story
is conveyed to the reader using sequential art, either
in an experimental design or in a traditional comics
format.
What is the difference
from conventional novels?
0 Novels are presented as books in linear form
0 Picture books tell a story with text accompanied by
illustrations
0 Film works with moving images and dialogue
0 Graphic novels combine all of these elements
as a medium for story-telling. They tell a story
through visual images.
Difference in audience
0 In today’s market, graphic novels
exist for almost everyone but are
not automatically for all ages.
0 In the past, American comics were
mostly aimed at children and
teens, but today there are graphic
novels for everyone from
elementary school kids to seniors.
0 A higher percentage of graphic
novels and comics are still aimed
at men from teens to middle age,
while girls and women have fewer
titles created expressly for their
tastes.
0 Japanese manga creators focus
their titles on a specific age and
gender audience
Some popular graphic novels
Directions: In your groups, review the following novels. You
will have 5-10 minutes per graphic novel. You will not see all
of them. Please use your discussion questions for each.
0 Alan Moore’s Watchmen
0 Art Spiegelman’s Maus: A Survivor’s Tale
0 No Fear Shakespeare (various titles)
0 Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
0 I am Legend by Richard Mateson
0 The Picture of Dorian Gray
0 Fables: Animal Farm
Graphic novel
group discussion questions
1. What’s the difference on structure between graphic novels and comics?
2. Compare and contrast these visual elements from graphic novels and
comics:
0 the visuals
0 speech bubbles
0 language
3. Compare and contrast these literary elements from graphic novels and
comics:
0
0
0
0
plot
characters
theme
point of view
4. Are any of these more entertainment-oriented than the other?
5. What’s the purpose of each of them?
6. What’s the target/potential audience for each of them?
Author’s choice
0 Why would an author CHOOSE this form?
0 Read as a class:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/bytopic/new-titles/adult-announcements/article/4884the-young-and-the-graphic-novel.html
Interview with the author
0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYCZqt5WSOM
Advantages/ Disadvantages
0 Peaks interest
0 Bridges students to texts
0 Interesting to follow
0 Perception of
0
0
0 Better for visual readers
0 Clearer imagery
0
0 Able to capture nuances
like no other medium
0
parents/teachers/etc.
Teaching value
Teaching “typical” literary
conventions (may not all
be there, or different)
Lack of depth exposition
since everything has to be
a bit more “short and
sweet” at times
Serious topics (not always
a great idea for authors)
Terms to know before reading
(see your hand out as well)
0 Ana chronic order: switches between the Monkey
King story, set thousands of years ago, and two
storylines set in modern times.
0 Frame break: when the Monkey King leaves the
universe flying “through the boundaries of reality
itself,” he breaks through the frame of the panel he’s
in. The story then switches to one illustration per
page with no panel borders until he re-enters reality,
at which point the normal panel resumes.
0 Laugh track: Chin-Kee’s appearances are accompanied
by a Laugh Track, done as onomatopoeia
Historical context
0 Why were Chinese and other Asian immigrants targets of
0
0
0
0
0
discrimination in California during the late 1800s?
How did Chinese resist (use agency) discrimination?
How do stereotypes and perceptions of the other as
exemplified in ABC relate to the real life discrimination
experienced by Chinese immigrants to the U.S
Why did the Chinese come to the U.S?
What were some of the reactions of Americans?
Why were Chinese targets of discrimination in the U.S?
Chinese Immigration to the
United States in the 1800s
0 In the early 1850s, thousands of Chinese traveled east
across the Pacific Ocean to the United States for the
promise of gold in the mountains of California.
0 Though gold brought the Chinese to California in large
numbers, they were familiar with the West Coast; Some
evidence indicates that early Chinese explorers might have
visited North America hundreds of years before Columbus
did.
0 The number of Chinese immigrants jumped from just a
few hundred a year to over 20,000 in 1852. ChineseAmerican miners soon became a common sight in the
mountains of California.
Competition leads to violence
0 Chinese miners discovered white miners resented their competition. To
0
0
0
0
avoid confrontation, they operated the less desirable sites and worked in
large groups for protection. Nevertheless, the Chinese became a focal
point of white miners' anger and frustration.
California governor John Bigler declared the Chinese "a danger to the
welfare of the state." Such statements stirred the California legislature to
pass a special tax that took over half of the average Chinese miner's
wages. The law allowed any citizen to collect this tax. Financial
harassment soon degenerated into outright violence.
In 1856 the newspaper the Shasta Republican reported: 'Hundreds of
Chinarnen have been slaughtered in cold blood in the last five years by
the desperados that infest our state. The murder of the Chinaman was
almost a daily occurrence; yet in all this time we have heard of but two or
three cases where the guilty parties were brought to justice."
Atrocities against Chinese became so common that the phrase "a
Chinaman's chance" came to mean no chance at all. In fact, an 1850 law
prohibited the Chinese-along with Native Americans and African
Americans-from testifying in court against a white person.
Terrorized, most Chinese left the hills or returned home to China or to the
safety of San Francisco's growing Chinatown.
Transcontinental railroad
opens opportunities
0 A new opportunity opened up for Chinese workers with the
building of the transcontinental railroad. In July 1862
0 Congress passed the Pacific Railroad Act, which gave two large
railroad companies, Central Pacific and Union Pacific, approval to
construct and operate a railroad that would reach from coast to
coast. Union Pacific began in the East, and Central Pacific in the
West. Competition between the two soon became a race to see
which company could lay the most track before the two met.
0 When the railroad was completed in 1869, many Chinese workers
were once again unemployed and unwelcome. Many returned to
China to rejoin their families.
0 Others brought their families to California. Unfortunately, various
national events reignited racist feelings against the Chinese,
Anti-Chinese Violence
0 The 1870s saw a sharp downturn in the U.S. economy. As the
recession deepened, unemployment grew, and frustrated
workers often blamed Chinese immigrants for taking whites‘
jobs.
0 Dennis Kearny, a recent Irish immigrant and leader of the
Workingman's Party, pointed to Chinese as the root of the
unemployment. Speaking before crowds of angry, hungry
workers, Kearny portrayed the Chinese as deviously determined
to undermine white labor by working for inhumanly low wages.
His racist rhetoric contributed to a wave of violence that swept
across the state and led to the brutal beatings of Chinese and the
burning of many of their businesses. The San Francisco Bulletin
asked, "Why is it that these people [the Chinese] are beaten and
maltreated at high noon on our streets and no arrests invariably
recorded?"
Chinese Exclusion Act
May 6, 1882
0 The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first major law restricting immigration to the
United States. It was enacted in response to economic fears, especially on the West
Coast, where native-born Americans attributed unemployment and declining
wages to Chinese workers whom they also viewed as racially inferior. The Chinese
Exclusion Act, signed into law on May 6, 1882, by President Chester A. Arthur,
effectively halted Chinese immigration for ten years and prohibited Chinese from
becoming US citizens. Through the Geary Act of 1892, the law was extended for
another ten years before becoming permanent in 1902.
0 After the Gold Rush of 1849, the Chinese were drawn to the West Coast as a center
of economic opportunity where, for example, they helped build the first
transcontinental railroad by working on the Central Pacific from 1864 to 1869. The
Chinese Exclusion Act foreshadowed the immigration-restriction acts of the 1920s,
culminating in the National Origins Act of 1929, which capped overall immigration
to the United States at 150,000 per year and barred Asian immigration.
0 The law was repealed by the Magnuson Act in 1943 during World War II, when
China was an ally in the war against imperial Japan. Nevertheless, the 1943 act still
allowed only 105 Chinese immigrants per year, reflecting persisting prejudice
against the Chinese in American immigration policy. It was not until the
Immigration Act of 1965, which eliminated previous national-origins policy, that
large-scale Chinese immigration to the United States was allowed to begin again
after a hiatus of over 80 years.
An act to execute certain treaty stipulations relating to Chinese.
WHEREAS, in the opinion of the Government of the United States the coming of Chinese laborers to this country endangers the
good order of certain localities within the territory thereof: Therefore,
Be it enacted, That from and after the expiration of ninety days next after the passage of this act, and until the expiration of ten
years next after the passage of this act, the coming of Chinese laborers to the Untied States be, . . . suspended; and during such
suspension it shall not be lawful for any Chinese laborer to come, or, having so come after the expiration of said ninety days, to
remain within the United States.
SEC. 2. That the master of any vessel who shall knowingly bring within the United States on such vessel, and land or permit to be
landed, any Chinese laborer, from any foreign port or place, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof
shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars for each and every such Chinese laborer so brought, and may be
also imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year.
SEC. 3. That the two foregoing sections shall not apply to Chinese laborers who were in the United States on the seventeenth day of
November, eighteen hundred and eighty, or who shall have come into the same before the expiration of ninety days next after the
passage of this act, . . .
SEC. 6. That in order to the faithful execution of articles one and two of the treaty in this act before mentioned, every Chinese
person other than a laborer who may be entitled by said treaty and this act to come within the United States, and who shall be
about to come to the United States, shall be identified as so entitled by the Chinese Government in each case, such identity to be
evidenced by a certificate issued under the authority of said government, which certificate shall be in the English language or (if
not in the English language) accompanied by a translation into English, stating such right to come, and which certificate shall state
the name, title, or official rank, if any, the age, height, and all physical peculiarities former and present occupation or profession
and place of residence in China of the person to whom the certificate is issued and that such person is entitled conformably to the
treaty in this act mentioned to come within the Untied States. . . .
SEC. 12. That no Chinese person shall be permitted to enter the United States by land without producing to the proper office of
customs the certificate in this act required of Chinese persons seeking to land from a vessel. Any any Chinese person found
unlawfully within the United States shall be caused to be removed therefrom to the country from whence he came, by direction of
the President of the United States, and at the cost of the United States, after being brought before some justice, judge, or
commissioner of a court of the United States and found to be one not lawfully entitled to be or remain in the United States.
SEC. 13. That this act shall not apply to diplomatic and other officers of the Chinese Government traveling upon the business of
that government, whose credentials shall be taken as equivalent to the certificate in this act mentioned, and shall exempt them and
their body and household servants from the provisions of this act as to other Chinese persons.
SEC. 14. That hereafter no State court or court of the United States shall admit Chinese to citizenship; and all laws in conflict with
this act are hereby repealed.
SEC. 15. That the words "Chinese laborers," whenever used in this act, shall be construed to mean both skilled and unskilled
laborers and Chinese employed in mining.
Stereotypes
0 Categorizing things or people is a natural human
inclination; however, people often make assumptions
about groups of people they don’t really know.
0 Brainstorm categories that you think of….Let’s think of 5
as a class. Write these on your paper as we discuss…
5 categories
0 With these 5 categories written down on your paper,
take a few minutes to jot down a few adjectives
related to each category. After, respond to these
discussion questions:
0 Do assumptions apply to everyone in a group?
0 Do most people hold the same assumptions about a
group? Why or why not?
0 Do assumptions tell us anything definite about a
categorized individual?
0 How do assumptions affect your behavior toward
others?
Definition: Stereotypes
0 Stereotypes are generalizations about a group of
people whereby we attribute a defined set of
characteristics to this group.
0 When we make assumptions about groups of people,
those assumptions are referred to as stereotypes.
0 When assumptions and stereotypes are attitudes, we
may find that making a fair judgment about someone
can be difficult. This influence is called “bias.”
In American Born Chinese
0 Stereotypes of this graphic novel
will revolve mostly around that of
the Chinese American and the
Chinese immigrant.
0 We will notice/analyze the
portrayal of particular characters
(physical and otherwise), the way
others react to them and treat them,
and the way this treatment makes
them feel.
“The Monkey King”
0 The Monkey King, is a main character in the classical
Chinese epic novel Journey to the West written by Wu
Cheng'en. In the novel, he is a monkey born from a
stone who acquires supernatural powers through
Taoist practices. After rebelling against heaven and
being imprisoned under a mountain by the Buddha,
he later accompanies the monk Xuanzang on a
journey to retrieve Buddhist sutras from India.
“The Monkey King”
0 The Monkey King possesses an immense amount of strength; he is
able to lift his 13,500 jīn (8,100 kg or 17,881 lbs) staff with ease.
0 He is also superbly fast, able to travel 108,000 li (54,000 kilometers or
33,554 mi) in one somersault.
0 He knows 72 transformations, which allows him to transform into
various animals and objects; he has trouble, however, transforming into
other people, because he is unable to complete the transformation of his
tail.
0 He is a skilled fighter, capable of holding his own against the best
generals of heaven. Each of his hairs possesses magical properties, and is
capable of transforming either into a clone of the Monkey King himself,
or various weapons, animals, and other objects.
0 He also knows spells that can command wind, part water, conjure
protective circles against demons, and freeze humans, demons, and gods
alike.
0 One of the most enduring Chinese literary characters, the Monkey
King has a varied background and colorful cultural history and is
considered by some American, Chinese, and Indian scholars to be
influenced by both the Hindu deity Hanuman from the Ramayana
and elements of Chinese folklore
Video clips of “The Monkey
King”
0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSV7041mZCw
0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CI3eUeq94I
0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwYi4CmvH5w&f
eature=related
0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYZmv8upiGY
About
0 Written and drawn by Gene Luen Yang, American
Born Chinese is a Graphic Novel dealing with the trials
and tribulations of Asians attempting to integrate into
American culture.
0 The story begins by following three characters:
0 The first is The Monkey King (Great Sage Equal of
Heaven, who is shamed after being kicked out of a
celestial dinner party for being a monkey (and not
wearing shoes). He becomes obsessed with earning the
respect of the Heavenly Hosts as a result.
0 The second is Jin Wang, a second-generation immigrant
from China heavily influenced by Chinese culture. After
moving from San Francisco to a new city, he awkwardly
tries to integrate with the all-white students and staff at
school, despite their stereotypical view of Asians.
0 The third is a white American boy named Danny, who is
burdened by his annual visits of his cousin Chin-Kee, an
embodiment of every negative Chinese stereotype ever.
Chin-Kee’s behavior has forced Danny to change schools
in the past to escape association with him.
0 While each story arc works well on its own and
appear to be independent, by the end all three
cleverly converge into a climax that affirm the need to
embrace one’s heritage and be yourself.
Things to notice…
0 Pg. 7- “double entendre:” at the celestial dinner party
“your peaches are looking especially plump today!”
0 Pg. 13- “ironic echo”: The Monkey King is barred from
a celestial party for not wearing shoes (and being a
monkey). When he becomes the disciple of the monk
Wong Lai-Tsao he is told that they do not wear shoes
for their journey.
The laugh-track
0 A laugh track (also canned laughter, fake laughter) is a
separate sound track with artificial sound of audience
laughter.
0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rav9ijyyZk
0 Yang uses a form of one in ABC (example on page 45)
The reveal
0 Happens three times
0 Danny is actually Jin
0 Chin-Kee is actually the Monkey King
0 Wei Chen Sun is the Monkey King’s son